Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines on Wednesday agreed to terminate their proposed merger, months after JetBlue Airways made its own bid.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed in this outcome and the Spirit shareholders will miss an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the rebound of leisure travel,” Barry Biffle, Frontier’s CEO said during the airline’s second-quarter earnings call. “Our board took a disciplined approach throughout the course of our negotiations. Rather than overpay for Spirit, the board prioritized the interests of Frontier, our employees and our shareholders.”
The move could mean that there may be a competing takeover bid from JetBlue. Shareholders could likely approve JetBlue’s offer. However, a formal vote still has to take place. A JetBlue takeover would create the country’s fifth-largest airline.
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The approval needs to come from the Federal Trade Commission and other regulators. There have already been concerns with JetBlue’s alliance with American Airlines.
But, JetBlue said that there are no plans to unwind that partnership, but it’s unclear if regulators will approve its takeover bid for Spirit while American Airlines is still present.
“We are disappointed that Spirit Airlines shareholders failed to recognize the value and consumer potential inherent in our proposed combination,” William A. Franke, chair of Frontier’s board of directors and the managing partner of Indigo Partners, Frontier’s majority shareholder, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research, a travel industry strategic research firm, said that it was too soon to tell if this is a victory for JetBlue, which is seeking to buy the budget airline outright for about $3.7 billion.
“There’s a lot of work that still is ahead. You cannot pronounce this a victory yet for JetBlue,” Harteveldt said, according to USA Today. “Spirit and JetBlue have to enter into formal negotiations, then they have to have the merger approved by the DOJ. I don’t think we get a decision on that in less than a year.”
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The termination of the Spirit-Frontier deal is a blow to the discount carriers.
On Wednesday, Frontier reported a $13 million profit for the second quarter. The numbers are a drop from last year and 2019.